We would like to draw your attention to our upcoming exhibition.
Takashi Murakami is known worldwide for his extraordinary works that fuse traditional Japanese art with modern pop art elements.
This exhibition will focus on his impressive prints of the last two decades, which captivate the viewer with its vibrant colours and creative motifs.
Let Murakami's unique works take you into a world full of colour and fantasy.
It's summer, far too hot to engage in interesting activities outside. Sweat gathers on the forehead, and the fresh water in the glasses slowly evaporates due to the heat. Even breathing becomes an exhausting ordeal due to the constant movement of the lungs. You can't do anything but listen to music. The phone, connected to the music system, starts playing the song Good Morning. Then Champions follows, and then Stronger. It's Kanye West's third album, Graduation. 2007, a good year. The cover is as explosive as the album: a bear that seems to be shot out of a cannon. In reality, it shows this bear, in keeping with the album's title, celebrating his graduation from a fictional university and being ceremoniously released. Kanye West consistently connects with the best artists in the world. In this case, with the Japanese Takashi Murakami. Murakami, born on February 1, 1962, in Tokyo, a city that unites traditional and modern Japanese art, receives a deeply rooted traditional art education.He studies Nihonga painting at the prestigious Tōkyō Geidai (until 2008) Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, considered Japan's most esteemed art school since its founding in 1887. Nihonga painting is a traditional Japanese painting technique that develops in the late 19th century as aa counter-movement to Western painting. Nihonga painting is based on centuries-old Japanese artistic traditions and techniques but also uses influences and methods from Western art. Moreover, Nihonga is dedicated to preserving and continuing the classical Japanese painting art, which provides Murakami with a solid education in the tradition of master students.
After taking inspiration from various artistic movements, such as the western-oriented Japanese painting technique Yōga, Murakami invented a new style: Superflat. With this, he unfolds a fascinating world full of pop and comic-like motifs. In his art, he entirely forgoes shading and hatching, instead relying on flat, vibrant color fields, a subtle homage to the Nihonga tradition. His paintings, sculptures, and designs, deeply rooted in the Otaku subculture, reveal their meaning upon closer inspection: they isolate motifs impressively or place them ironically in new contexts. The Otaku subculture is a cultural phenomenon that originated in Murakami’s birth country and refers to people who have an intense passion for certain aspects of pop culture, especially anime, manga, video games and other related media. What was once considered a retreat into a solitary obsession is now a pride, an identity that connects people across continents – here through art. Superflat symbolizes a deliberate absence
of perspective and depth, a concept Murakami skillfully elaborates in his book The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning as a comprehensive philosophical theory about Japanese culture. After Superflat comes the super hype!
In 1996, Murakami founds the Hiropon Factory, which evolved into the Kaikai Kiki Company in 2001. This highly modern company, which today counts over 100 talented employees, has since been the center for the production and marketing of his art in Tokyo and New York. The name Kaikai Kiki, meaning “powerful and sensitive,” reflects the artistic vision manifested in the mass dissemination of his dazzling pop art works. These are often complemented by carefully coordinated merchandise products, an essential part of Murakami’s innovative artistic concept.
And just like Kanye West’s bear is shot into the wide, loud world with a bang, Murakami also makes a splash: one great success after another. Murakami’s extraordinary designs for Louis Vuitton from 2003 onwards attract considerable media attention and fuel the already initiated debate about the relationship between art and merchandising. The artist, delighted by the media-driven upswing, transformes the museum shop into a pulsating center of his exhibitions, where the boundaries between art and commerce are artfully blurred.
Particularly fascinating is: the bolder Murakami asserts that merchandising is not just a mere by- product of art but its true expression, the more followers his provocative ideas find among critics. Suddenly, they begin to recognize even the mass- produced, inexpensive items – be it the plush flower-shaped cushion, the manga figures, or the colorful buttons – as full-fledged artworks. The artist masterfully expands the perception of art and redefines the boundaries of the art concept.
In 2015, Murakami starts an exciting collaboration with the renowned brand Vans. In this partnership, his iconic characters are immortalized on limited edition graphic T-shirts and skateboard decks, as well as on a special variant of Vans’ classic Slip-on shoe. This collection embodies Murakami’s distinctive style and takes his art to a new, accessible level. Virgil Abloh, the world-famous and sadly deceased designer and founder of the fashion brand Off-White, collaborated with Murakami in 2018. The two combined an impressive range of their creations into international traveling exhibitions. These offered not only a diverse selection of paintings and sculptures but also T-shirts, prints, and an exclusive Murakami leather shopping bag. Through such projects, Murakami consolidates his role as a bridge-builder between art and consumerism, expanding the dimensions of his art on a global scale. But there is something else: Murakami’s flowers. Takashi Murakami’s vibrant flower motifs have left a profound mark in the world of contemporary art, fashion, and pop culture. The cheerful character of his works found its way onto Kanye West’s album covers, Kid Cudi’s chains, Drake’s hoodies, and even a collaborative artwork with Pharrell Williams, shown at Art Basel in 2009. Since the first presentation of his flower paintings in 1995, these symbols have unrelentingly permeated the fashion and design world. Jewelry by Ben Baller, bags by Porter, and an exquisite tourbillon watch are adorned with the now-legendary smiling flowers. The long-standing, fruitful collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which lasts nearly two decades, is strongly based on these flower motifs and contributes significantly to the iconic status of these artworks. The roots of Murakami’s fascinating flower motif lie in his in-depth studies of traditional Japanese painting, particularly Nihonga. During this intense engagement, he encounters the concept of setsu-getsu-ka, meaning “snow, moon, flowers”, which embodies a profound symbolism in Japanese art tradition. Initially, Murakami tries to paint flowers in the spirit of this old tradition. But instead of the hoped for classical depiction, a novel and revolutionary motif unfolds: the Murakami flowers, each with fifty blossoms on a single stem. Despite their seemingly whimsical and innocent appearance, these flowers conceal a darker, multi-layered meaning that goes far beyond their outward cheerfulness. They unfold a subtle complexity that challenges conventional notions of beauty, brings deeper human emotions to light, and is also meant to commemorate Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
In the scorching summer heat, as sweat stands on the forehead and the lungs struggle through the oppressive heat, it’s a true pleasure to experience the musical world along with the visual brilliance of Takashi Murakami. With every song on the album Graduation and every floral artwork by Murakami, a symphony of colors and sounds unfolds, seamlessly overcoming the boundary between art and commerce.
Murakami’s revolutionary Superflat style and his artistic collaborations with significant brands like Louis Vuitton and Vans have not only enriched the fashion scene but also challenged the perception of art on a global level.
The radiant flowers Murakami releases into the world are far more than mere visual stimuli – they are a statement that unites traditional Japanese aesthetics and modern pop culture.
During the summer heat, when the world outside almost stands still, we can embark on an extraordinary journey through Murakami’s art, reminding us that even in the hottest moments of life, the beauty and complexity of art always open new perspectives for us.
